It seemed that Liu Bei's current salary expenses were only a little more than three times those of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but that was not actually the case. One had to remember that the Eastern Han Dynasty was also burdened with rewards and enfeoffments left over from the Pre-Qin, Qin, and Western Han periods.
This referred to the fiefs granted with certain noble titles—the fiefs attached to titles recognized by the scholars of the realm.
Unless revoked because of some exceptional error or omission, such inheritances could not be reclaimed even when dynasties changed. Otherwise, one would be making enemies of all the scholars in the realm, including those under one's command. After all, people could talk about lasting for ten thousand generations, but that sort of nonsense could only deceive the living.
As vested beneficiaries, no one was willing to have the benefits they currently enjoyed stripped away during a dynastic transition. Thus, the Eastern Han's salary expenditures were extremely high, covering not only the fiefs granted by successive emperors to their descendants, but also those from previous dynasties.
Now Liu Bei's salary expenditures had already surpassed three times those of the Eastern Han period, showing just how enormous the spending was.
The system Wang Xuan had designed was good, and its control over local regions was especially thorough. However, its drawback was also obvious—it was expensive.
Problems that could be solved with money had never truly been problems. The problem was that they had no damn money.
Liu Bei was experiencing that very problem now. He was out of money.
This was not to say that tax revenue was insufficient. In fact, tax revenue alone was definitely enough, with considerable surplus besides. Looking to the future, tax revenue would continue to rise step by step. The problem